How to Build a Real Estate App? Features, Benefits & Cost

Real Estate has been more of a traditional industry with most of the work still done the old way. But real estate apps like Zillow, Trulia, and 99 acres are changing the scenario. Tech has entered Real Estate, and the response it has got from the customers is overwhelming.

The cost to develop a real estate mobile app will range from $20,000 to $30,000, but will further vary based on your requirements and the technologies and real estate mobile app features you opt to integrate into your Real Estate app. The Real estate app development cost will increase with the number of features that you add to the app.

The Real Estate market will grow to $ 12.7 Trillion by 2022, and there is a big opportunity for Real Estate mobile apps in the segment. As is evident from the below infographic, 50% of home buyers found their next home online.

Types of Real Estate Mobile Apps

House For Sale App

House for sale apps enables people to search house based on a couple of factors such as budget, location, accessories needs, and others. The hunt for a house gets ended at the fingertips and people get optimal options to find their desired property.

Real-Estate Service Marketplace App

The marketplace app provides a platform for all the property owners to list their property for sale and users get the list of properties they are looking for based on specific criteria. The users can select the property that they find an as good fit and then connect with the property seller with messaging.

Real Estate Agents’ Apps

The app is especially aimed at real estate agents who can list the services and ways to connect them for smooth transactions. After registering on the app, the agents can start listing services and serving customers.

Property Rental App / The property management apps

Not all people are interested in buying property. That’s where a property rental is a good option. The app facilitates searching all the properties for rent based on location, amenities, and price, and then connects with the respective rent service provider so that people can get the property in a particular location hassle-free.

Aggregator Real Estate app

An aggregator app is a type of app that provides a platform for the buyers and sellers registered on the app. The role of the app is limited to providing necessary information about the listed properties to buyers and sellers; the mobile app acts as a marketplace.

Real estate company-specific application

This kind of app is developed specifically for a Real Estate Company. It contains all the details about the company’s properties segregated according to various parameters like location, price, and date of completion.

Indoor navigation apps

These kinds of apps help in guiding the customer via indoor spaces like huge malls. Using the sensors already available on a mobile, the app can inform the customer about various details inside the enclosed space like the best restaurant and the location of washrooms and drinking water points.

Monetization models of a Real Estate aggregator app

You can monetize your real estate mobile app by allowing ads on your app. You can have various service providers like interior decorators, and other related businesses, architects and furniture dealers interested in putting up ads for their services on your app. You can also sign-up for in-app advertisements to be shown to the user on certain spaces and sections in the mobile app.

Subscription packages for sellers: You can sell subscription packages to sellers which can include 10-15 listings for a month and other features that the basic sellers won’t have access to.

Commission Based App: You can charge for a small commission from brokers. For eg, you can have a small percentage of commission from the broker for every property he/she successfully sells. If a broker has listed 15 properties on your real estate app, and out of that he/she has been successful in selling 5 of them through your app then the broker will pay the commission for those 5 houses.

Featured listings: Those sellers who want to list their profile and properties on top of the app for maximum exposure of their properties pay an extra amount according to paid plans. Paid featured listing services on your app list the properties till they have a plan.

Third-Party Advertisement: Real estate when scored enough popularity can opt for allowing third-party businesses to post their ads at different locations. The cost of placing ads at a different location is different and you will continuously earn for every impression, click, and visit.

Premium Subscription: The users interested in real estate business can opt for premium subscription plans such as monthly, quarterly, or annually to enjoy special services such as ad-free versions, alerts for new property addition, and others.

What are the features of the Real Estate Mobile App?

Let’s have a look at the basic real estate mobile app feature that should be included in the Seller, Buyer, and Admin panel.

Basic features for the Sellers in a Real Estate App

Let’s have a look at the features that should be included in the Real Estate App for the sellers;

• Seller Signup/login
• Upload pics and other details of the property
• View all the properties
• In-app payment
• Manage their profile and listings
• Add Your Property for Selling OR Rent
• Purchase subscription for listing properties

Basic features for the Buyers in a Real Estate App

Let’s have a look at the features that should be included in the Real Estate App for the buyers;

• Buyer Register/Login
• Search Property
• Filter & Sort Property based on various parameters
• List View & Map View for Property Listings
• Get Details of selected Property
• View/ Edit User Profile
• Login to Social Media
• Manage their profile
• View properties they contacted and their status

Basic features for the Admin in a Real Estate App

Let’s have a look at the real estate mobile app features that should be included in the Real Estate App for the Admins;

• Various Reports
• Manage the Buyers
• Manage the Sellers
• Manage the details in listed property
• Add/Remove Property
• Currency Converter
• Customer support manager
• Profile & Property Verification and activation as required
• Managing user-profiles and details
• Manage Subscription Packages
• Revenue Management

Advanced Features for real estate app development

Apart from the above listed basic real estate app features, you can include the following advanced features in your real estate mobile app which will make your mobile app stand out from the competition.

3d property view-A feature for the buyer

The 3d property view is an outstanding feature that allows users to get a ‘feel’ of the property without the hassle of visiting it physically. You can add this feature as a premium feature, available to only certain users.

Sharing property on social media-A feature for both buyer and seller

Users will be able to post the properties posted on your app on their social media. This would drive traffic on the app as more people would know about the property.

Loan eligibility and E.M.I. calculator- A feature for the buyer

Your app can help the user get an idea about the estimated E.M.I. and down payment the person will have to pay based on varying terms for a loan to buy the property that the user would be interested in. You can tie up with third parties like banks and other loan-providing agencies using loan lending apps for this to provide more precise information. A button should be provided that explicitly asks for permission of the user regarding whether the banks should contact the user for further discussion on loan or not. Adding such a feature would ensure better with the user.

Geo-tagging- A feature for the buyer

Users would get push notifications whenever they pass by a property in which they have expressed interest in your app.

Integrating AR AND VR- A feature for the seller[Virtual Tour]

Using AR and VR technology, the sellers can give a virtual tour of the property to the buyers. This feature will generate more qualified leads for the sellers and also waste less time for the buyer in viewing the property physically.

Give an idea about safety in the neighbourhood- A feature for the buyer

Security is a big concern for property buyers. Here you can help them in taking an informed decision by providing the data of crime in the neighbourhood over one year. You can get this data from the local police station.

Multiple Listing Service

Multiple Listing Service is a database of real estate properties that is maintained by professionals working in the real estate industry. Once the M.L.S. integration is complete, the leads generated on various portals maintained by different real-estate professionals will be integrated on a single portal. It helps the real estate professionals in providing their client with a much more massive database of available properties.
Technology stack required to build the Real Estate app

How much does it cost to build a Real Estate app

App development cost for a business solution varies from company to company depending on the features & technologies choose to integrate into your app and the country from which your Real Estate mobile app development team operates. Let’s have a look at how the cost range for various countries matter based on the location of the app development company you look to partner with:

• If your Real Estate app development team is based in the USA, the cost ranges from $70-$170 per hour.
• The real estate app development cost for a Real Estate app in Europe cost ranges from $80-$170 per hour.
• In Australia and Canada, the average cost of app development for Real Estate industry varies from $50-150 per hour.
• In India, it has been spoken as one of the most cost-efficient countries for creating real estate app and here the cost ranges from $25-$80 per hour.

With better insight into the real estate app development cost in various countries let’s now check how much it will cost to build one.

• A basic app will cost anything between $30,000-45,000
• An advanced app with capabilities like a 3D view of the property, Loan eligibility, and E.M.I. function, Geo-tagging, Integration of advanced techs like Augmented reality and Virtual reality will cost you more than $60,000.

Technology Stacks used to build Read Estate App

Payment Gateways: Payment gateways like visa, master card, and PayPal can be integrated with the app using solutions provided by companies like Braintree and Stripe.

Data Storage: The data can be stored on the cloud to make the process of storing data cost-effectively. We can use third-party service providers like Microsoft Azure and Amazon web services (A.W.S.).

UI/UX: Design of the app can be developed using Adobe UI/UX package, CSS, HTML5.

Coding & Platforms: We can use coding languages like Java, Kotlin, Python, , JavaScript, PHP, Swift to write your code. We can also use app development frameworks likes React Native, Flutter and ionic for cross-platform app development.

Analytics: GCP (cloud data analytics by Google) or Microsoft Analytics could be used to integrate data analytics into your app.

SMS and verification via phone and voice: Plivo, Bandwidth, and Twillo can be used to integrate verification through voice and phone via SMS.

Push notifications: Applications like Twillo, push.io, Firebase, Apple push notification service will help the real estate app developers in integrating push notifications to your app.

Realm, MYSQL, Firebase or CoreData: These will help in managing the list of saved properties.

Social media signup/sign in: You will need to integrate various SDKs like Facebook SDK, LinkedinSDK, Google and Twitter SDK to include a social media sign up and sign-in option.

The team required to develop a Real Estate app

Developing a mobile app usually needs a team that consists of UI-UX designers, developers, Quality Assurance Engineers, Technical Team Leads and Project Managers involved during the different phases in the whole app development cycle.For developing a basic app, you will require

• 1-UI and UX designer
• 1-Quality Assurance Engineer
• 2 – 5 developers
• A Project Manager
• To develop an advanced app you will need a team of –
• 3-4 Team Managers
• 3-Quality Analysts
• 2-3 UI/UX designer
• 6-9 developers
• 1-Project Manager

Why choosing an expert app development partner is essential?

Deploying the services of a trusted app development partner will ensure that you build that perfect mobile app development for real estate. With experience comes expertise and working with a good service provider in the industry you get the best service. Building a good quality real-estate app takes a lot of expertise, and you should look for an experienced mobile app development company that can provide you with the necessary resources and post-development support.

Frequently Asked Questions

What were the main challenges during the real estate app development process?

The real estate industry is a highly compliant industry where businesses face legal and compliant-related difficulties that must be dealt with smartly. They are-

• User-generated content liability
• Leveraging third-party data sources that don’t meet legal needs.
• Overlooking zonal restrictions.

Considering an experienced consultant would help you to make your app comply with all the rules and regulations for better results.

How do real estate apps make money?

Real estate apps can make money using various monetization models such as selling ad slots to third-party businesses, featured listing for real estate agents, subscription model, commission on every transaction, and others.

What should I know before starting real estate app development?

Before jumping on the real estate app development bandwagon, you should consider the following things to make the investment pay off. They are-

• Do you need a mobile app?
• For which platforms do you want the app to get developed?
• Check competition
• Pre-decide the marketing strategies
• Apple deducts 30% of sales revenue, is it okay with you?
• App scalability planning
• How about monetization strategies?
• Set a feasible deadline for the app development.

How do you make an app for real estate?

The real estate app is developed uniquely with some specifics. It’s a step-by-step process that involves-

• Verify your app idea
• Identify a list of features
• Create MVP
• UI/UX design
• Find a reliable web and mobile development partner like prismetric